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(Restaurants and Institutions Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Good news about the foodservice industry has been hard to find lately.
Im not thinking of second-half sales and earnings results, although by and large these have been disappointing. Declines in consumer confidence and discretionary income in conjunction with higher operating costs for food, labor and energy made the second half of 2007 a very difficult business environment for most foodservice operations.
However, the attention such negative financial news received has overshadowed some other, equally disquieting numbers. One recent workplace study finds that many foodservice jobs rank among the least desirable jobs anywhere, while other research reports that the incidence of depression is higher among food-prep workers than among almost any other category of workers.
Foodservice has fought hard to dispel the stigma that it offers dead-end jobs providing low pay and minimal benefits. Dawn Sweeney, who joined the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in October as president and CEO, told R&I
recently that she intends to push for a stronger investment in the organizations Cornerstone Initiative. The program promotes foodservices ample career opportunities as well as the industrys role in communities and its importance to the national economy. But operators cant sit back and expect the NRA to burnish the industrys tarnished image as an employer. Foodservice careers will be seen as rewarding only when the industry ensures that they truly are so.
The recent report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston identified occupations with the highest percentages of bad jobs. The report defined a bad job as one paying less than the median wage in 1979 (adjusted for inflation) and lacking employer-provided health insurance or a retirement plan. Two foodservice job categories tied for the No. 1 ranking: Host/hostess (restaurant, lounge or coffee shop) and counter workers (cafeterias, food concessions) are at the top, with 87% of jobs in each category labeled as bad. Waiters/waitresses rank sixth (80.4%); dishwashers are No. 9 (78.8%).
That foodservice accounts for four of what MarketWatch.com labeled the 10 worst jobs in America may help explain a recent U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report. It finds that food-preparation-and-service jobs rank second only to personal-care-and-service (such as caring for the elderly) in rates of worker depression.
The studies findings and methodologies can be debated or debunked, but this much is certain: The NRA says that foodservice will add 2 million jobs over the next decade, raising total employment to 14.8 million in 2017. If these jobs arent seen as desirable, they wont be filled by the kind of committed, caring and energetic people the industry must have in order to prosper.
The danger is that the long-term need for investments in training and in meaningful benefits programs will go unmet while foodservice operators focus on near-term needs to boost sales and customer traffic. If that happens, it would be deeply unfortunate, because the adage our people are our greatest asset is more true of the hospitality industry than of any other.
shume@reedbusiness.com
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved.
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